When Indian fans, in particular, go berserk the moment Virat Kohli and Aaron Finch step out for release, it will be the sound of the world starting to fight back.
“Has something happened to someone there?” There was also genuine concern in the woman’s voice when she posed the question to one of the few police officers outside the posh hotel in Sydney’s Olympic Park on Thursday (November 26) evening. However, she was not the only one. A few minutes earlier, another woman had stopped her car at the curb and rolled down her window to ask if “someone important” was about to walk out the doors. The cause of this overwhelming curiosity about the quiet neighborhood was not only the presence of the police and the barriers on either side of a bus parked just outside the hotel entrance, but also a dozen excited Indians pointing their phones in that direction.
The anticipation in the air was later broken by a boy, no older than 12 years old, who after gauging the situation, shouted: “Pakistan is a better team, Dil Dil Pakistan …” The Indian fans did not have time to react. even though. Because at that moment, they saw the man that most of them had gone there for. And Virat Kohli even showed them a thumbs-up sign before putting their bags in the trunk and boarding the bus. Of course, he was serenaded with a few chants before doing so.
And that was that. Fourteen days after landing in Australia, Kohli & Co had finally removed its quarantine shackles. It meant that they were now on their way to the bubble, where they would still have to deal with certain restrictions. But at least now they hoped they weren’t confined to isolation, except during training. His departure also meant that the conspicuous barriers that had been in place at that corner of Sydney’s Olympic Park since November 12 finally disappeared as well. The famous Sydney suburb, which held one of the most iconic Olympic Games two decades ago and is considered by locals as the most open in terms of security before the 9/11 attacks changed the world, could now be serene again. . Picturesque with no one to care for the safety of 50-something obviously very important visitors from abroad.
The Sydney cricket ground itself looked calm and unhurried on Thursday afternoon. You wouldn’t have said we were within 24 hours of witnessing nearly 20,000 screaming fans, mostly dressed in blue like the ones outside the hotel on Thursday, extinguishing the stillness that existed at the time. The SCG doors remained closed even on the eve of the game with health officials still busy cleaning and disinfecting every seat and every corner of the historic site.
The first game of the Australian Indian tour that begins on Friday (November 26) with the first ODI cannot be described in Olympic terms for sure. But the fact that this is international cricket being played in front of a live audience for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic took over the world is quite epic. This might not be the return to normalcy the world hoped to rediscover towards the end of what has been a year to forget. But when Indian fans in particular go berserk the moment Kohli and Aaron Finch step out for the launch, it will be the sound of the world starting to fight back.
The cricket will also be of the highest quality considering how even the two sides are and also how close their battles have been in the ODI format in recent years. But what we’re about to see at the SCG from a broader perspective is that the cricket world is at least starting to shed the shackles of quarantine that it has been forced into since this very place organized an ODI with Australia. and New Zealand in front of an empty stadium.
When: Friday, November 27, 2020 2:40 PM local time, 9:10 AM IST
Where: SCG, Sydney
What to expect: The Indians did not have a chance to make it to the SCG on Thursday night and will get their first glimpse of field and ground conditions 90 minutes before the game. However, they have had a chance to acclimate to Sydney’s fickle weather over the past two weeks, especially the way it has gone from very hot to very windy to very rainy. We are heading into a fairly hot weekend with temperatures increasing from the late 20s to the early 40s on Sunday.
As cricket was not played at SCG, the last sporting event here was an NRL match last month, the field is expected to be cooler than usual for this time of year. And that could put fast bowlers at stake a lot more than cue ball cricket at SCG.
Team news
Australia
The Australian team has a settled look in white ball cricket having played with many options since the last World Cup. But they are welcoming a group of players with mixed form to the IPL. The likes of Finch, Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith did not set the tournament on fire and having passed their two weeks since they returned from quarantine they will need a confidence boost in between. However, Marcus Stoinis’ form is a huge boost to the team’s overall balance and appearance. The three fast bowlers are expected to start the series with Finch stating that his rotation would come down to how the individual feels.
Possible XI: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschange, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (week), Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa
India
Unlike the Australians, the Indians face a major shortage of full talent on their team, especially with Hardik Pandya not expected to play much. But I’d expect him to get the go-ahead regardless of his IPL hitting. KL Rahul did not commit to a position in his press conference on Wednesday (November 25), but having hit No. 5 and looking in great shape while doing so, he will maintain that position, which he dominated during the tour. for New Zealand. . That should leave the door open for Mayank Agarwal to open up the hitting alongside Shikhar Dhawan.
Possible XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (week), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah
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